Ohio State Football: Bucks should heed Saban’s advice, ignore the hype

Coming off its dominating 38-7 win over Wisconsin, the Ohio State football team enters November with an open date.

You will not hear me say this too often, but I am hoping the Ohio State football players heed Nick Saban’s famous “rat poison” advice after a game in October, 2017. Apparently the Alabama head coach wasn’t exactly pleased of his team’s focus.

Here is what coach Saban had to say about the situation per CBS Sports.com.

"“I’m trying to get our players to listen to me instead of listening to you guys. All that stuff you write about how good we are, all that stuff they hear on ESPN, it’s like poison. It’s like taking poison. “Like rat poison.”"

The Buckeyes are being praised by almost everyone in the media as one of the top two teams, if not the best so far.

No doubt the team has earned the distinction.  An 8-0 record to go along with the No. 1 scoring defense and No. 3 scoring offense has Buckeye Nation bursting with anticipation on how this season could end.

Add in all the talk about postseason awards for Chase Young and J.K. Dobbins, the spotlight is squarely on the team. None of that should matter yet, except to reflect that the team has put itself in position to have a special year.

As expected, Ryan Day said all the right things during his weekly press conference.  The Buckeye head coach had plenty to say concerning the attention his team is getting now.

Here is are a few of his remarks as reported by Cleveland.com.

"“All it means is that you have a lot more to lose if you let it get away from you. That’s it. And the more this builds, the more we have to lose. So we’re not going to get anxious about that or anything like that. But at the same time, we also know that we’ve got a bigger bull’s eye on our chest week in and week out. We have to work harder and harder and we’re more and more invested every week.”"

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In other words, ignore the hype and keep doing the things that got them to this point.

I wouldn’t be shocked if they did raise their play to a higher level starting next week against Maryland. From the opening game, the players have shown their desire and determination to not let the hiccups from the last couple of seasons derail this one.

Out of all the aspects this team has done right, probably the most impressive has been its ability to seize momentum and not relinquish it. That shows every single player is locked in on his job and doing it well on almost every play.

If that focus continues, I am confident we will see Ohio State win its third-straight Big Ten Championship and earn another invite to the College Football Playoff. Until then, don’t drink the poison.